The next instant, Tōma's shadow clone expelled a massive fireball.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu.
At the same time, Gamabunta opened his mouth and spewed an enormous amount of thick toad oil. The substance ignited the moment it touched flame.
Tōma was well aware that his own Fire Release wasn't exceptional. Compared to specialists, it still fell short. But that didn't matter.
He wasn't the main source of power.
He was the spark.
The true force came from Gamabunta's oil… and what followed next.
A faint smile appeared on Tōma's face as his real body finished forming seals.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A violent gale tore across the battlefield. The already massive fireball roared brighter and hotter, swelling under the wind's pressure. At the same time, the gust scattered the sticky oil outward.
The power was no longer concentrated.
But the scale—
The resulting Toad Oil Flame Bullet expanded until it swallowed the entire Sound force beneath it. Flames blotted out the sky, stretching from horizon to horizon.
In sheer presence, it resembled a Fire Release version of a Tailed Beast Bomb.
Not in raw destructive power, but in spectacle, size, and heat.
The heavens burned red.
This was exactly what Tōma wanted.
To the Sunagakure shinobi watching from afar, the figure standing atop the giant toad looked less like a man and more like something untouchable.
The colossal firestorm finally crashed down.
Vegetation vanished instantly. Water techniques evaporated before forming. The rolling heat waves alone made it hard to breathe.
An opening strike… that wiped the field clean.
The flames raged for a long time, refusing to die even after everything combustible was gone, as if determined to scorch the land itself.
When the inferno finally receded, Sunagakure's forces could see the aftermath.
They swallowed.
Almost no one on the Sound side was still standing.
Most hadn't even left bodies behind.
Only a handful on the very edge had survived.
It looked like hell.
"…That's insane," Kankurō muttered, sweat dripping down his forehead. He wasn't sure whether it was from the heat or fear.
Everyone present shared the same thought.
Thank goodness this hadn't happened inside Konoha.
Otherwise, there wouldn't have been any Sunagakure survivors back then.
As the flames faded completely, attention shifted upward.
Gamabunta had already vanished.
Against the crimson sky stood a single figure, suspended in midair.
Floating.
For a moment, every Sunagakure shinobi believed the same thing.
Fujimoto Tōma wasn't human.
He was a god.
He could unleash that kind of jutsu… and now he could even fly?
Of course, Tōma wasn't actually flying.
After dismissing the summon, he'd wrapped pieces of metal around himself and used electromagnetic control to keep himself afloat.
Before his recent breakthrough, this would've been impossible. But with his Lightning Release refined further, the current was strong enough to manipulate magnetic fields.
True flight would still be slow. But hovering like this was easy.
And that alone was more than enough to make a statement.
In truth, the earlier attack wasn't unstoppable. A capable jōnin could've survived it.
The power had been deliberately spread out.
But unfortunately for the Sound Village—
There were no jōnin down there.
Even the Sound Four fell short.
Still, to Tōma's mild surprise, the Sound Four had survived, barely. A combined Earth Release barrier had protected them, sustained by the other three pouring chakra into the largest among them.
His objective had already been achieved.
But after a brief glance toward Gaara, Tōma reconsidered.
That display might fool most people.
It wouldn't fool Gaara.
At full power, Gaara's sand techniques could match that spectacle. And Gaara would one day become the Fifth Kazekage.
So Tōma decided to show him one more thing.
Conveniently, the Sound Four were still alive.
Extending his hand, Tōma condensed a sphere of chakra. A shrill, cutting sound screamed across the battlefield.
"…Wind Release?" Maki blurted out.
From his distance, all he could see was a blinding white mass of chakra. The sound alone told him how dangerous it was.
Gaara's eyes narrowed.
Even his sand armor… would it stop that?
If Shukaku took it head-on, it wouldn't come away unscathed.
Tōma's face was pale now. Even after two soldier pills, his chakra was nearly empty.
He looked at the technique in his hand with a hint of regret.
Its first use ended up being here.
Against Orochimaru, he hadn't had enough chakra.
Against Itachi… the noise made ambush impossible.
If this technique had ever landed cleanly on Itachi, it would've been lethal. Cell-level destruction wasn't something most defenses could handle.
Like tossing a ball, Tōma threw it.
The Rasenshuriken sliced through the Earth barrier as if it didn't exist and landed at the center of the Sound Four.
White light exploded.
Tōma looked away before it finished.
They didn't last long.
The perfected Rasenshuriken didn't increase raw power compared to the incomplete version. It could simply be thrown.
That was enough.
And once his chakra fully transitioned to natural energy, its power would rise even further.
Swallowing another soldier pill, Tōma used Flying Thunder God to reappear in front of Sunagakure's forces, retrieving the marked kunai he'd left behind.
"The rest is yours," he said to Maki. "There are still a few scattered enemies. I'm heading back to Konoha."
Then he vanished.
"…R-right," Maki replied stiffly, even though Tōma was already gone.
That technique.
That movement.
That wasn't Body Flicker.
A name surfaced in Maki's mind.
The Yellow Flash.
He clicked his tongue.
From now on, if anyone in Sunagakure ever suggested provoking Konoha, he'd be the first to shut it down.
Picking a fight with monsters like that was suicide.
The light from the Rasenshuriken finally faded, leaving a deep crater behind. The Sound Four lay at its center, their bodies intact.
Too intact.
Upon inspection, Maki's expression changed.
No external damage.
But inside, every single cell had been shredded.
Could any human survive that?
Gaara understood immediately.
He couldn't block it.
He'd have to evade it.
As Gaara looked at the scorched earth, the red-stained sky, the bodies in the crater, and the place where Tōma had vanished—
He finally grasped the truth.
He'd always known Fujimoto Tōma was strong.
He hadn't realized he was this strong.
And Gaara would not forget that name.
...
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